All those changes
by chibiwriter
Summary: Oneshot. Tori and Cam reflect on the changes in them and the other rangers that have come from fighting Lothor.


**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Disney/Haim Saban**

"Cam?" Tori stepped over a piece of debris that, for some reason, still sparked, even though it had been over twenty-four hours since Lothor had wrecked Ninja Ops. "Cam?"

"I'm over here." The former green samurai ranger waved over from what had been the little platform with shelves where they'd kept scrolls and books. It had now been reduced to shards of burnt paper and mangled metal. He was holding something in his hand.

"Hey," Tori said in a quiet voice as she approached him. "Sensei told me you were in here. What's up?"

"I don't believe it's gone." He gestured to the mess that had once been their command center. "I mean, I've lived here for the past, what? Six months. I've slept here, eaten, done…stuff here. And now it's gone. Just like that."

"I know what you mean." She pulled herself up on the platform to sit beside him. "It's become a bit like a second home to me."

He flashed her a saracastic smile. "Yeah, you guys were always coming over here and annoying me."

"Yeah right!" She chuckled and nudged him. "Admit it, you liked the company."

"All right," he said. "I won't lie. Yes. It was nice to have someone other than a guinea pig to talk to."

"I knew it." Still smiling, she looked over what he held. "What's this?"

"What?" He looked startled, then his gaze dropped to his hand. "Oh. This. It's a photo." He showed it to her. "I'm not sure who took it."

She couldn't help but gape at it. It was a picture of her, Dustin, and Shane looking, let's just say, not that best. "I don't believe it! When I found out who took it…" she trailed off to just stare at him. Then she just had to burst out laughing. She just couldn't help it. "God! We look really bad, don't we?" She took the picture from him. "Shane looks really sulky, doesn't he? And I don't look much better…I think I remember this day. It was the day before the academy got attacked. Wow." She paused to think that far back. "It seems like a lifetime ago. I can't believe we were that irresponsible."

"You were, weren't you?" He grinned. "But then," he added seriously. "If you guys hadn't been late – as usual – we wouldn't be here today."

Feeling uncomfortable, she looked down at the photo. "I guess." Without thinking, she found herself stroking a finger along the edge of the photo. She chuckled again. "Dustin looks like such a goof ball."

"Things haven't changed then," Cam said in that dry voice of his.

She turned her head to look at him. "Yes they have. Dustin's changed. We've all changed."

"Oh yeah." His voice turned challenging. "Go on then. Tell me how everyone's changed."

"All right then," drawing her legs up so she was sitting cross legged, Tori began listing. "First off, Dustin's _not_ as a big a goofball as before. I mean, he's actually managed to graduate," she added when Cam snorted. "And he's not as naïve as before. Thank God. And Shane…Shane's not so headstrong, and do-it-my-way-or-take-a-hike anymore. He's willing to actually listen to others and take the blame if it's his fault."

"What about the Thunders?" Cam shot at her when she stopped.

"I don't know them that well…" she hedged.

He rolled his eyes. "Come on. You said _we_ have all changed. The Thunders count."

"All right. All right." She said with a smile. "Okay…Blake. Blake's less shy…I think. And he trusts a bit more easily. And he doesn't rely on Hunter that much anymore. He's grown more…independent, I guess. And Hunter's became less broody."

"Just a little," Cam added in a wry voice, which made Tori laugh because it was true. Hunter, no matter how old he got, and no matter what happened to him would always be a brooder.

"Okay. Just a little. And he's more willing to take a backseat. Remember when he and Shane had that stupid I'm a Red ranger, I should be the leader fight?"

"How could I forget? They acted like a pair of idiots."

"Yeah. They did, didn't they? But Hunter is much more laid-back now. And now, on to you." She turned her head to smile at him.

"Me?" He actually looked surprised.

She laughed at him. "Yes you. You have changed, you know that."

"Oh yeah. How?"

"Well, for one thing, you don't spend hours by yourself anymore. And you're not so sarcastic anymore. And you've actually got a hobby!"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure trundling around on a mini-bike is a hobby…but yeah. I suppose I _have_ changed. What about you?"

"Me?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes. You. How have you changed?"

"Um…I don't know. I guess people don't really notice how they change," she added thoughtfully.

"Okay. Let me try…um…you're less snappy. And more willing to try new things out...and more res – no, wait. You've always been pretty responsible," he admitted with a grin. "Well, I guess we could say you're less impulsive. Definitely less impulsive," he added, thinking of a certain incident involving the cinema, popcorn and a pig.

She made a face. "I learnt my lesson pretty fast."

"Oh, and you're not so cocky anymore," he added, almost as an afterthought.

She smiled at that, and looked down at the photo she was still holding. "I think we all learnt to not be cocky pretty fast."

"Yeah." He said, and plucked the photo from her fingers to study it. "Yeah, we did. I'm going to show this to Hunter and Blake," he added, getting up. "And tease Dustin and Shane." He paused at the foot of the stairs when he realized she wasn't behind him. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, pleased she'd cheered him up slightly. But she wanted to find something, so she added; "You go first, I'll be right up."

He nodded, and jogged up the stairs. She smiled to herself. Before, Cam would have looked at her suspiciously, then found some excuse to stay just so he could keep an eye on her.

Turning, she starting shifting through the mass of wreckage, wondering if it would still be there. If it wouldn't be singed or completely burned, like almost everything was. Then she saw it; a flash of color under a pile of plain parchment. She dug it out and sat, holding it in her hands. It was a picture of the six of them, just before they'd gone off to the Action Games. Before Lothor's final attack. Before the biggest battle they'd ever fought and would probably ever fight again. Before they'd lost their powers. They were…happy, she decided.

She'd somehow found herself in the middle, flanked by Dustin and Blake. Dustin had his arm around her shoulders, and he'd used his other hand to make bunny ears behind Shane's head. Shane's mouth was stretched into that huge grin of his and he'd managed to drag an unwilling Cam into the photo with him. Cam looked a bit grumpy, but he was smiling and behind his glasses, his eyes glinted with laughter. On her other side, Blake had his arm securely around her waist, and she had her arm around his as well. Beside him was Hunter, of course, who was at an angle, one hand on his brother's shoulder, the other reaching out in an attempt to give someone bunny ears. He fallen short though, and had ended up making the peace sign between Tori's and Dustin's shoulders.

They was all dressed in their civilian clothes, each easily identifiable in their own personal color; crimson for Hunter, navy for Black, light blue for Tori, yellow for Dustin, red for Shane and, of course, green for Cam.

But, even under all that cheer, there was darkness. Just like there was darkness in everyone. For them, the darkness was the knowledge that they would always be different, set apart because of what they'd seen, what they'd done. They'd changed, in all the ways she'd told Cam about, but one thing she hadn't said. They'd become older, wiser, and they'd lost, in the cruelest of ways, their innocence. Off all the things them being Rangers had given to them - maturity, patience, skill - it had taken the most precious thing away.

With a sigh, she let her fingers flit from one happy face to another. Then she tugged it into a secret pocket in her new teacher's uniform and made for the stairs. Blown up and copied it would make, she thought, the perfect graduation present.


End file.
